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The420Guy
Guest
Britain's 30-year-old cannabis laws, the most stringent in Europe, are to
be relaxed by next spring under plans announced last week by the Home
Secretary, David Blunkett.
Cannabis - which is tried by more than 40% of British schoolchildren - is
to be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug. The police will lose the
power to arrest the 90,000 people a year who are currently charged with
possession offences.
Alongside the reform of the 1971 cannabis laws, Mr Blunkett announced his
emphasis on reducing the harm caused by hard drugs, including guidance
encouraging doctors to prescribe heroin as part of a programme to get more
hardcore addicts into treatment and away from dealers.
The Home Secretary also gave his firmest indication yet that he will
license the medical use of cannabis to treat multiple sclerosis and other
illnesses, once research trials are completed.
But the reform of the drug laws, designed to win back credibility with the
young, stops short of the decriminalisation, or legalisation, of cannabis.
Mr Blunkett's decision to reclassify it as a class C drug means that it
remains illegal, but the maximum penalties of two years for possession, and
five years for possession with intent to supply, will be much lower than
the current penalties of five and 14 years, respectively.
The police will no longer have the power to arrest anyone in the street for
cannabis possession and prosecutions will be carried out by court summons.
This is likely to mean that prosecution will prove the exception, rather
than the rule, for possession.
The reforms are expected to come into effect in the spring, after they have
been considered by the advisory council on the misuse of drugs. This group
of experts first recommended the change as long ago as 1981.
It is also in line with the recommendation of the Police Foundation inquiry
into drugs, which was dismissed by ministers when it was published last
year. But Mr Blunkett last week rejected the inquiry's recommendations to
downgrade Ecstasy and LSD from their present class A status. The Home
Secretary told MPs last week that the changes would not detract from the
message that all drugs were harmful, but it would make a clearer
distinction between cannabis and class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Newshawk: Peter Webster The Psychedelic Library
Pubdate: Thu, 01 Nov 2001
Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Page: 8
Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001
Contact: weekly@guardian.co.uk
Website: https://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/front/
Details: MapInc
Author: Alan Travis
Bookmark: MapInc (Cannabis)
be relaxed by next spring under plans announced last week by the Home
Secretary, David Blunkett.
Cannabis - which is tried by more than 40% of British schoolchildren - is
to be downgraded from a class B to a class C drug. The police will lose the
power to arrest the 90,000 people a year who are currently charged with
possession offences.
Alongside the reform of the 1971 cannabis laws, Mr Blunkett announced his
emphasis on reducing the harm caused by hard drugs, including guidance
encouraging doctors to prescribe heroin as part of a programme to get more
hardcore addicts into treatment and away from dealers.
The Home Secretary also gave his firmest indication yet that he will
license the medical use of cannabis to treat multiple sclerosis and other
illnesses, once research trials are completed.
But the reform of the drug laws, designed to win back credibility with the
young, stops short of the decriminalisation, or legalisation, of cannabis.
Mr Blunkett's decision to reclassify it as a class C drug means that it
remains illegal, but the maximum penalties of two years for possession, and
five years for possession with intent to supply, will be much lower than
the current penalties of five and 14 years, respectively.
The police will no longer have the power to arrest anyone in the street for
cannabis possession and prosecutions will be carried out by court summons.
This is likely to mean that prosecution will prove the exception, rather
than the rule, for possession.
The reforms are expected to come into effect in the spring, after they have
been considered by the advisory council on the misuse of drugs. This group
of experts first recommended the change as long ago as 1981.
It is also in line with the recommendation of the Police Foundation inquiry
into drugs, which was dismissed by ministers when it was published last
year. But Mr Blunkett last week rejected the inquiry's recommendations to
downgrade Ecstasy and LSD from their present class A status. The Home
Secretary told MPs last week that the changes would not detract from the
message that all drugs were harmful, but it would make a clearer
distinction between cannabis and class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
Newshawk: Peter Webster The Psychedelic Library
Pubdate: Thu, 01 Nov 2001
Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Page: 8
Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001
Contact: weekly@guardian.co.uk
Website: https://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/GWeekly/front/
Details: MapInc
Author: Alan Travis
Bookmark: MapInc (Cannabis)
